


Electric Tea Lights

by scarrletmoon



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - College/University, College, Demon Summoning, Drinking, Drunkenness, Halloween, M/M, Spirits, Students
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-22 20:52:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12490576
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarrletmoon/pseuds/scarrletmoon
Summary: Kuroo wants to have a séance. He and his friends go to a discount store to get supplies. Sugawara gets possessed.





	Electric Tea Lights

**Author's Note:**

> oh boy oh man oh boy this is so self-indulgent i'm getting second-hand embarassment dont look at me

Discount stores, Daichi thinks,  are truly miserable places. He always leaves feeling distinctly uncomfortable, although he doesn’t know why. Maybe it’s the fumes from the cheap plastic, or the dust, or the dead eyes of every employee who looks as if they signed away their soul when they handed in their tax forms before training. But for the moment at least, his attention is consumed by the grinning doll staring back at him through its flimsy packaging. It looks like someone tried to recreate popular character with only a vague description given to them over a bad phone line. Daichi thinks that maybe - if he squints - it might be an attempt at Doremon, but then he also let Kuroo hustle him into one too many shots. 

 

“Did you find those candles yet?”

 

Daichi startles. “Sorry - I was calling your name and I thought you heard me.”

 

Daichi forces himself to something - anything - other than Koushi’s flushed cheeks. He chooses the dusty candle selection in front of him instead. “No, it’s- I was distracted.” Daichi clears his throat. “Tea lights?”

 

“I don’t know if I trust Kuroo with real flames” Koushi says. From the next isle over, Kuroo tuts. “And I wanted to try and be authentic-”

 

“With dollar store candles,” Daichi says, and Koushi grins which makes Daichi’s stomach lurch. 

 

“Right.”

 

They stand in front of the candles together for a moment, Daichi pretending to consider the plastic LED candles as he shoves his hands into his pockets to hide the fact that his palms are sweating. “Why don’t we get both?”

 

“Hmm,” Koushi considers. He fumbles a crumpled wad of notes out of his pocket. “We still have to get...what else was on the list?”

 

Daichi tugs his phone out of the pocket of his best jeans and pulls up the page again, scrolling past the sparkly pink page title and introduction written in Chiller, for effect. “‘An offering of food’...and incense? Do they even-”

 

“If you guys are done making out over there, Kenma and I trying to decide between Oreos and Pop Tarts,” Kuroo shouts over the aisle. They hear Kenma halfheartedly try to shush Kuroo between giggles. Daichi glares at Kuroo’s ugly red snapback.

 

Daichi sighs. “You know, Koushi, you’re right. No open flames.” 

 

Koushi laughs and Daichi feels a warm glow in his chest that he tries very hard to ignore. 

 

After a heated debate between Daichi and Kuroo (“we are  _ not  _ using Chips Ahoy in a seance”) which ends with Kenma rolling his eyes and grabbing a bag of chips and a sleeve of off-brand chocolate chip cookies and walking away, and another even shorter argument over the incense (which is solved by buying a pack that comes with five different scents that all smell like soap), they’re finally leaving and walking back to Kuroo’s. They decide on the way back this this is an amazing idea and that Koushi can keep the change for being the night’s Treasurer (which isn’t much considering they also indulged in their own drunk snacks) while everyone else owes Kuroo a beer each since he suggested it in the first place. 

 

They pool the goods in the common room and Kuroo makes everyone another round of drinks that’re too strong, and they pass around a bag of Doritos while Daichi reads through the instructions again. “Two: choose a medium.” Daichi looks up from the list and notices that he has to wait a moment for his eyes to refocus and makes a note to never let Kuroo make him a drink unsupervised. “Who’s the medium?”

 

Kuroo thrusts a hand into the air which Kenma immediately bats away. “I can barely trust you to summon the will to pick up your socks off the floor.” 

 

Kuroo starts to get into one of his tirades, and Daichi cuts him off. “Koushi should do it,” he suggests, and tries to avoid the smirk Kenma throws his way. “He’s the most responsible out of all of us.”

 

Koushi nervously wipes his fingers off on his jeans, leaving dusty streaks on his thighs. “I’ve never done it before. Is it safe for me to do it?”

 

“We’ve got fake candles and expired chips as an offering,” Kenma says dryly. “I think inexperience is the least of our problems.”

 

Koushi smiles nervously but nods. “Okay.”

 

“We need the candles in the middle of the table,” Daichi continues, “And the food. And then we need to light them, dim the lights and light some incense.”

 

Kuroo claps his hands loudly and all three of them jump. “This is the best idea I’ve ever had.”

 

Daichi really doubts it, but he helps Kuroo try to pin a towel over the light on the ceiling before Kenma shouts at them both and tells them to throw the towel over the lamp in the corner instead and to stop being  _ idiots _ , while Koushi throws back his drink and sets up the table. Kenma is entrusted with lighting the incense because he’s the only one who isn’t a afraid of burning his fingers with the lighter, but mostly because he’s considered himself a fire expert ever since he took a half hour online training course on fire safety for a class in freshman year.

 

Soon, they’re sitting around the table, holding hands and feeling a little jittery. Daichi is trying very hard to remember what acting casual is supposed to look like, while across the table, Kuroo is practically vibrating. On his left, Kenma looks like he regrets being friends with them all, but that’s not an expression that’s new to Kenma. 

 

Koushi takes a deep breath, holds it for a moment and exhales, letting his shoulders relax. When he finally looks up, he looks a lot calmer and a lot more serious than Daichi was expecting. Koushi squeezes his hand tightly and Daichi squeezes back and feels his heart squeeze too. 

 

Koushi nods at them all, and they begin to read the piece of paper where Koushi had written the words that Cassandra’s Wordpress blog had suggested for “optimum spiritual connection”. They repeat it three times for good measure, and at the end of the first repetition, Daichi shivers. None of them breaks the circle, although Daichi feels somehow, like he’s made a mistake

 

They wait, perfectly still, saying nothing and barely breathing for a long time. A car passes on the street outside, revving its engine and blasting music that’s five years out of date. In the distance, a siren wails. 

 

“Do you think we should-” Kuroo says, and never gets to finish because Koushi suddenly sits straight up like he’s been shocked. 

 

Koushi slowly turns to Daichi, being absolutely careful to only move his head. “Daichi,” he says, his voice very small and very quiet, “I’m scared.”

 

There have been times when Daichi has felt helpless - when he broke up with Yui and didn’t know how to help her stop crying as if her world was ending; when was still getting used to riding his bike and found himself rolling down a hill with no way to stop; when his father was in the hospital and the doctors kept telling him and his mother to prepare for the worst - but none of those had been things that he’d necessarily started. For a moment, he’s griped with paralyzing fear and the terrible thought that something might happen to Koushi that’s his fault but that he can’t stop and doesn’t know how to explain. Koushi begs him for help and, Daichi feels as worthless as an ant under a hiking boot. 

 

Kenma, thankfully, is the first to come to his senses. “Koushi, I need you to breathe.” He leans towards Koushi as far as he can without breaking the circle. “Please breathe. 

 

Koushi takes a deep breath that rattles but doesn’t break eye contact with Daichi. 

 

“Stay calm,” Kenma continues, “Do you want to end the seance?”

 

Koushi opens his mouth and begins to form a word, but the voice that rips its way out of his mouth doesn’t sound like his at all. 

 

“ _ No. _ ”

 

Koushi’s hand turns into a clamp around Daichi’s fingers, pinning his wrist to the table. Kenma, whose face never strays far from annoyance or disinterest, is staring, wide-eyed at Koushi. Kuroo is holding Kenma’s hand so tightly that he’s squeezed the blood out of Kenma’s fingers, but neither of them seem to notice. 

 

“ _ How dare you, _ ” Koushi spits, color rising in his cheeks, “How  _ dare _ you-”

 

“We’re sorry,” Kuroo tries, and Koushi rounds on him, face purpling.

 

“ _ You’re sorry! You’re sorry when this is what you wanted, to contact the dead, and for what? What did you expect when you brought me here with your foul, rotten food and plastic-” _

 

Kenma catches Daichi’s eye as Koushi goes on, spitting across the table at Kuroo , Kuroo who’s too stunned to look away. Daichi hasn’t seen him look this horrified since the time he swung and missed at a volleyball that almost cost his team the finals. It was two years ago. They make fun of each other for everything, but not something like that. Especially not that.

 

Kenma leans as far as he can towards Daichi’s ear. “Did the page say anything about this? What to do if we make contact with something angry?”

 

“What?”

 

Kenma shakes his head angrily. “What do we do? What did the website say?”

 

He’s trying to think, really he is, but he can’t - Koushi is tugging at his arm, begging; meanwhile, something inside him is screaming, furious that its been brought into a world it hates; across the room, a world away, Kuroo is transfixed, eyes blown wide and mouth open. 

 

Kenma digs his elbow into Daichi’s arm somehow without breaking the circle. “Daichi, I need you to fucking concentrate! Please!”

 

Kenma doesn’t curse often, which has always been a surprise to Daichi. Kenma is small, skinny, looks like an angry twelve year old going through some phase that includes bleached hair and dark roots and violent video games. But when he curses, it means Something is happening, and that Something can’t be ignored.

 

Daichi scrambles around in his own head for the webpage, remembering the badly drawn illustrations and exaggerated exposition that included something about Cassandra’s tragically murdered great aunt. There was the part about the candles and food offering, the incense...holding hands and never breaking the circle...and there was the FAQ that Daichi ignored because who read the answers to other people’s dumb questions?

 

“I can’t remember,” Daichi says. His voice is so much hoarser and higher than he’s expecting and it makes him feel so much more afraid. “I don’t know, I think there was something but I can’t-”

 

“ _ Cowards!I”  _ Koushi howls, rocking back and almost tearing free. He kicks out and the lamp crashes to the floor. “ _ Weakling mice-” _

 

_ “ _ Fuck, fuck, Kenma, what do we do-”

 

“I don’t know! I don’t even believe in ghosts, it was this or Kuroo’s Ouija board!”

 

“Right, because Hasbro would’ve been a safer choice” Daichi snaps, and somewhere in the room, he hears laughter. 

 

Koushi stops suddenly, and the room is completely silent except for the laughter. For a moment, Daichi doesn’t understand; is this another ghost? Another spirit floating around the room? Can one person be possessed by more than one spirit or is he starting to hallucinate?

 

The laughter comes again, muffled this time, and Daichi understands; forehead pressed against the table, Kuroo is laughing. 

 

Kuroo turns his face so that his cheek is pressed against the sticky table, long dark hair falling out of his hat and into his sweaty face. It seems like he’s trying to say something, but he’s laughing too hard and too drunk for the words to get past his tongue. Daichi thinks it sounds a little bit like “Hasbro”, but it’s probably something else. They all wait, stunned, for the moment to pass or for something to make sense, but nothing does. And slowly, Kuroo lifts his head and still laughing, tries to lean forward and blow out the candles in the center of the table. 

 

There’s a beat of silence, and then chaos: Kenma pulls so hard to one side that Daichi’s shoulder twinges painfully; Kenma screams at Kuroo to stop before he kills them all and Kuroo keeps laughing while trying to whip his hair out of his eyes long enough to get proper aim at the candle flame and Daichi’s hands hurt from being pulled and squeezed and he’s too tired to deal with any of this and over all that noise is Koushi’s voice:

 

“Shut  _ up _ , Kenma, shut up! It’s an electric fucking tea light!”

 

They all stop, again, and in the distance they hear a horde of frat boys cheer about something as they stumble down the street. One of them kicks a can, and the sound of it tumbling all the way back down the hill behind them lingers after their voices fade. 

 

Koushi at least has the decency to look a little embarrassed at getting caught, but Daichi is still stunned. Kuroo chuckles, face pressed against the table again. 

 

“You were faking,” Daichi says. “You lied.” Koushi doesn’t say anything, but he looks a little too pleased with himself. 

 

“Aren’t you a bio major?” Daichi asks dumbly. Kenma has let go of his hand by now so he has an extra palm to smack on the back of Kuroo’s head. 

 

“What does that have to do with anything?” Koushi asks.

 

“I didn’t know you could act,” Daichi says dumbly, and Koushi struggles against a grin. 

 

“Some of us science nerds are full of secrets,” he says, to which Daichi responds, 

 

“I want to know yours.”

 

It’s not as suave as he imagined it would be, and Koushi blinks wordlessly at him for a moment and then laughs, almost as hard and as freely as Kuroo did. “I didn’t mean it like that,” Daichi sputters, but it’s too late and his only mercy is that Kuroo didn’t hear it because he’s too busy trying to make sure Kenma doesn’t punch a fist through his face.

 

“Later,” Koushi says finally, and Daichi’s heart sings. “I just have to ask you a favour.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

Koushi sighs, stretches his stiff legs and fingers and grimaces at the center of the table.

 

“No candles. Please.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> i apologise eternally if there were any Americanisms/Westernisisms in this, i will explain: 
> 
> \- i was at a dollar store with my bf and ended up looking at the cheap candles and thinking about séances and was like "i wonder what a bunch of college kids trying to pull off a séance would look like" and my brain gave me this
> 
> \- i had to write a short story for a class and couldn't come up with anything that worked so i thought, genius that i am, "wow! why not just write a fan fic and change the names before you hand it in!" and the problem with this is that it turned out to be a MUCH gayer assignment than i intended and i'm handing this in tomorrow and i'm already sobbing because it's so 
> 
> it's so bad but it's not the first time i've been an ugly, slothful person and handed in repurposed fanfiction 
> 
> it's been like, a year since i posted something on here so y'all get this and i'm sO
> 
> i'm going to walk into a church some day and just instantly burst into flames and there wasn't even any real FILTH in here, i'm just horrified at how hideously cute i made this by accident and now i'm going to have to look a grown man in the face after he reads this mess
> 
> @god we gotta talk about why i'm like this


End file.
